Today was a Pleasure Picture Day. Not a lot of sketching going on.
We mainly just absorbed some really fantastic eye candy.
We started the day wandering around the opera house.
A beautiful space with detail and ornaments all around.
Entryway leading towards the grand staircase
I really like these sassy ladies guarding the entry way to the opera.
One hand on a hip and the other hand on a weapon.
This was a beautiful hall, with gold every where and chandeliers.
The stage. I stayed in this nook for a while looking out at the stage.
Eventually, they raised the fake curtain and started to adjust the lighting on statues and do checks.
It is really amazing to see people with earpieces buzzing and watch interior come alive.
Definitely made me want to see a show.
Ohhhhh and what is this?! Chocolate break on the walk to our next destination.
Bibliothèque nationale
aka where I think the French version of Indiana Jones likes to research before dodging huge boulders.
Stacks and stacks of books only for the privileged researcher.
We got a private showing of some incredible, original, early photography.
I learned...
- France's early photography collection is extensive
- Due in part to the "donation" policy, where photographers would give one copy to the government
- Some works were not immediately seen as important, so later librarians had to purchased them
- Sometimes the gov't would commission projects (Napoleon wanted documentation of an aqueduct)
- Saw photos of a building before it was burned
- A rare early picture of the destruction of a building (usually buildings were not shown in that state)
Plates from the portal of Notre Dame
The archiver. I got to flip some pages. I thought the books that housed the pictures were beautiful.
Close-up bridge
We kind of had to rotate our heads for some of them, worth the extra effort
I noticed the typography at the beginning of this photo book
We also saw (but could not photograph) original
- Man Ray's
- Old Paris street fashion
After the exclusive photo tour back-in-time, I got to hike up some stairs to this view:
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